Summit Elevation (m): 2134
Elevation Gain (m): 1110
Trip Time (hr): 4
Total Trip Distance (km): 6
Quick ‘n Dirty Rating: Class 3 – you fall, you sprain or break something
Difficulty Notes: Moderate scrambling with loose terrain and some route finding.
Technical Rating: SC6; YDS (3rd)
GPS Track: Gaia
Map: Google Maps
On June 19th Wietse and I drove up to Jasper National Park to camp for the weekend and bag a number of local peaks. We were slightly disappointed by the campsite that we were assigned in the Whistlers campground because it seemed very open and public (no trees offered any sort of privacy) but we quickly got over it and settled in for the night.
June 20th was the day we planned to summit Roche a Perdrix and if time permitted we would attempt Indian Ridge too. If nothing else, apparently this peak is the highest point in the Fiddle Range. Hmmm.
There was some high cloud but nothing serious as we drove out of Jasper and found the trail head for Roche a Perdrix. Well, actually we turned off at exactly 800 meters from the Jasper park gates and ended up about 100 meter too close to the park on a different trail head than Kane mentions! We realized our mistake quickly enough and found the proper start of the trail no problem.
The trail was obvious enough as it wound its way up the west side of the north ridge. As we got higher, I noticed an obvious rock cairn built next to some pretty thick trees (some had fallen over quite recently). I headed over to the cairn and peered into the trees but there was nothing there so we continued up the ridge.
Pretty soon I was suspicious that we were too high up, above the cliffs that we should have been traversing underneath. I was right. We had to lose about 75 meters of height gain where we found the trail again and traversed under the cliffs. This was a cool little hike. The hike soon changed back to scree bashing as we continued to gain height.
The last 200 vertical meters is moderate scrambling with loose rock on slabs. The summit views were great in all directions and we made it back to the car with plenty of time to try to bag another peak.
On the way down we realized that the first part of the forested trail is windblown but the trail definitely starts at that cairn.
